The Home Crowd

Very often, in both my professional and personal life, I find myself crunching numbers.  For one, out of necessity, and second, out of curiousity.  Recently, I have found a great resource in Yahoo’s Finance section.  The mortgage calculator works just as how you’d expect, you drop in the figures, and the calculator pops out the appropriate information.

So thinking about buying that 350,000 dollar home?  Well crunch the numbers, add in taxes, home insurance, and get a clear figure in your head before making the big leap.

Yahoo Finance Mortgage Calculator

As you look over your results, you’ll notice your estimated mortgage payment, as well as a comprehensive payment schedule, and also what your home will cost you total (principal + interest).  Now, if you find that simple tool useful, there are many others on the Yahoo Finance page which help out with financial planning, College Saving, Taxes, Insurance, Loans and Retirement Planning.

But if you’re mainly interested in the real estate aspect of the calculator tools, then I also recommend moreso than the Mortgage Calculator, the  “How much home can I afford” calculator.  This calculates home affordability in a more “traditional mortgage’ sense.

Yahoo Finance’s Home Affordability Calculator

These tools, combined with real estate searches such as through various real estate sites and those in the similar vein such as Zillow, can save you some time pounding the proverbial pavement as you’re able to do your homework during the evenings and weekends.

The site however, is run by Yahoo, which therefore means I find it pretty reliable.  That is, unless microsoft succeeds in buying out yahoo.  In which case, your results and reliability may vary.

In 1915, Sears began selling home kits by way of mail order from a specialty catalog. The homes were transported largely via railcar, with the average home filling two cars each. By 1925, Sears had sold 30,000 homes. Unfortunately, due to the great depression that hit a few years later, and it’s lingering economic effects, Sears’ sales suffered, and by 1940 had stopped selling homes. In these 15 years of operation though, Sears sold 75,000 homes across the country. Numbers which, any homebuilder today would be proud to boast.  The kit homes, were of good quality, very stylish, and most importantly, very affordable. The “Magnolia” model (pictured below) sold for $5,140 which adjusted for inflation from 1918 to today would cost approximately $80,000.

(click image to enlarge)

Now, keep in mind, that only covers the cost of your home kit, no labor, contractors, sub-contractors, interior designers, furnishings or the most atrocious of all costs nowadays….the land itself.  But after all is said and done, construction-wise, you’d still find yourself in a relatively affordable home.

Nowadays, the kit homes themselves are a piece of American history, and rightfully so, have developed a following among those who wish to live in their own collector’s item.  The construction had a solid feel, and from most accounts, the kit homes still standing today have stood the test of time well.  I’m not sure the same will be said of the pre-fab homes built over the last few decades that usually come in a couple pieces and are transported by a flatbed truck.

Makes ya wonder though, if the Great Depression never happened, would Sears be THE name in homebuiding today?  Maybe they’d have ventured into master-planned communities, urban infill projects, possibly entire Sears branded cities and infrastructure?

Sears Modern Home (via Architecture Coach)

I came across Zillow a couple of years ago via a link to a page on their site, showcasing the actual locations of the TV homes we all grew up watching. The Brady Bunch house is there, as is the Bewitched house and the 90210 house (which was miles away from Beverly Hills near Pasadena actually), and also Archie Bunker’s House. But does anyone even know which of those houses was his? I remember quite vividly many row houses, shakily filmed from a moving car.

Immediately upon viewing this list, I remembered a good friend of mine and how she was a huge fan of the series “Charmed”. Personally, I was a huge fan of Alyssa Milano. Difference was, the house from Charmed was not actually in San Francisco as the show would lead you to believe, but actually nearby, a few blocks north of Downtown L.A., literally blocks away from Dodger Stadium. So we did a day trip and I managed to get a great ‘touristy’ pic of her in front of the house. It was a fun little trip and a great exercise in using a valuable web-based resource for real estate. (Not sure how well she’s coming along with getting me that pic with Alyssa Milano though)

Link to “Charmed” house page here.

If you’d like to see the list of famous homes Zillow has found, here’s the link – Zillow Famous Homes

But let’s say for instance, that you’re looking to sell your home, you could look it up on Zillow and get a ‘ballpark’ estimate of your home’s worth. I say ‘ballpark’ because based on what I’ve seen, I don’t feel the estimates are accurate, especially not in the current housing market (as of April, 2008). How would I know, you say? By keeping a close eye on what those close to me are buying and selling. Know someone who’s buying/selling? Look it up on Zillow and see just how closely their estimates match up to actual sale/purchase price.

For example, in February a friend was purchasing a home. It was a fixer-upper/distressed property in a neighborhood that at best could be described as “in need of redevelopment”. After touring the home, and seeing the condition it was in, I didn’t feel Zillow’s estimate was close, but that was probably just figured out by some equation of area value, square footage, number of beds/baths. I also didn’t feel it took into consideration the current housing market. It was overinflated, and considering the dire condition of the home, and the housing downturn, I imagined the price my friend paid was 14% less than Zillow’s estimate. Said friend had bought for less than that even, 16 % less than the Zillow estimate. That, two months ago, I found somewhat understandable, knowing that this site likely had no clue about the home’s condition. But after checking again on the same property this week, Zillow has raised the value 17% higher than the original estimate from two months ago.

So, if you’re curious about what your home is worth, or if you’re curious about a prospective home, give Zillow a shot. It’s free, there’s no annoying registration required, just type in the address of the property. Zillow has partnered over the last 2 years with thousands of real estate brokers and agents, and recently, has partnered up with Sears to expand resources. I expect Zillow will grow and eventually get a better grasp at actual value than artificial value. They’ll have to, or in this market, they’ll be so far off when it comes to numbers that it won’t be a reliable service.

Now, if you’re serious about what your home is worth, check out the site, then hire a professional appraisor.

In the meantime, I’m gonna try to figure out what I’m gonna have to offer to buy Tony Soprano’s house.

Link to house from The Soprano’s – here.

Infomercantile has a great entry from a U.S. Department of Defense guide entitled “Fallout protection for homes with basements”. I always find these things funny years and years later how bizarre how time and experience disproves such theories. In the time of the cold war however, “preparedness” measures were commonplace and many from that era will recall doing fallout drills in school. These were basically a “Duck and Cover” drills, except you don’t run out to the playground at the end. This is due to the still falling radioactive fallout.

“Radioactive fallout, though, could spread a thin layer over millions of square miles. Radiation would come from the fallout wherever it settled — the ground, trees and bushes, or the roof of your home. Fallout does not behave like a gas. In areas that would be affected by dangerous amounts of fallout, the fallout particles would look like dirt or hand and you may see them after they have settled on the ground or other places.”

They also go on to explain that after the fallout has dusted the ground, it could be days or weeks before it’s safe to go outside again, so you’d also better have a few lunchables ready just in case.

This guide was only for homes with basements, as shown above, and other illustrations you can also see the Split-Level type home that was very prevalent in the 60′s. So what about single level homes? Apartments? There must be some of those guides out there, and I’d love to see them. Pure americana right there. I imagine though that the following image may be better suited towards those without a lot of time to prepare.

Now had they titled that pic “Dick disassembles his overactive child’s play fort” I’d believe that also. Good to know that those pants in my dresser I never wear could save me someday. And the kiddie pool up top? Just icing on the cake.

And are any of these airtight? Dunno, but since it’s only a big of radioactive dust that might just do a number on my front lawn for a spell, why worry?

Here’s the full article.

Following in the thread of the previous post, here’s another look at a “mobile” home. Not nearly as swank as the fiberglass mini-yachts we’ve come to know as houseboats, but it has a great level of that hands-on craftsmanship that’ll make you all but forget about the malaria you came down with on whatever jungle cruise you’re on.

Link: Funtasticus